the diary of a rich man: 2007.10

the diary of a rich man

Thursday, October 4, 2007

why are you doing this?

fund your own dreams.

i'm 22 years old and suddenly i decide to make something out of myself. i'm a big dreamer. but i'm not much of a fan of working for those dreams. on the other hand, i'd like to do it the unconventional, faster, more-comfortable-in-the-long-run way. i WANT them to come to pass. i just don't want to stress myself in trying to make them come to pass. i'm not saying that dreams aren't worth sweat, i'm just advocating for working smart and hard instead of just working hard. i see a lot of people working their asses off, trying to make a living. they work for money. i, on the other hand, want money to work for me.

when i was younger, i started to dream big. i wanted a car. a red sports car. i wanted a house. a huge house. i wanted a family. a 'just right' family. i wanted a wife. the most beautiful wife on the face of the earth. i wanted to visit europe. i wanted to travel a lot. make a list of all the countries of the world and go through a-z. afghanistan-zambia. i wanted to build buildings. orphanages, hospitals, castles, schools. i wanted luxury. home theater, spa membership, yacht. i still want all of these.

then it got me thinking.. how am i going to get the money to buy all these? my 8-5 job won't cut it. even if i earned ten times the minimum wage from now until i retire at age 55, i'm not going to have the money to buy all of these! oh, yes, ten times the minimum wage is enough to live a simple, happy life. BUT I DON'T WANT THAT! over the weekend, i was struggling with myself. i couldn't answer the question, 'will a simple life make me happy?' growing up with the notion that money is from the devil made it really hard for me to get an answer. it was like, an honest man can never be rich. all rich men are evil. live the simple life, go to heaven. get rich, go to hell. i don't believe people who say that they'd rather live normal lives, earning just enough to get by than become millionaires. having some extra for an out-of-country vacation every 3 years or so. living in a so-so house. i don't believe you.

so, after a long weekend of not being able to focus on anything because of this question that's bugging me, i've decided-- i want to be rich. here are my realizations:

1. wealth is not equal to greed
2. simple is not equal to contented
3. it is possible to be rich and live simply
4. it is possible to be rich and live simply and be contented

there is a popular misconception that rich people lead miserable lives. not all of them. at least not me.

you've probably heard someone say this before (or you might have read it somewhere), 'make a life, not a living'. well, i believe that with all of my heart. money was made to work for me, not the other way around. i'm just following natural law.

posted by Paul Tolentino @ 8:32 PM 0 comments

in the beginning...

everything has a start.

whenever i am about to take big steps in my life, i always look back. it's as if the first requirement to know exactly where i am going is to soberly judge myself from as far back as i can remember up to where i am standing right this very moment. it's like emptying a sack of potatoes on top of a table with a huge broken balance scale favoring one side. good potatoes on the left, bad ones on the right. and after i'm done with the entire pile, i ask myself, "have i done enough to become a good potato?" 'cause you see, there aren't that many bad potatoes, but the scale tilts more to the right. i know for a fact (and have potatoes as evidence) that i've done a lot. that i've done something. BUT HAVE I DONE ENOUGH?

i'm facing a big potato right now. part of me says i should go this way, the other part of me disagrees. people call it a crossroads sometimes. it's where you choose a path and you're never the same. but, see, the fault in that symbolism is that people don't walk on a straight road for most of their lives and then suddenly encounter a three-way split! i don't want to believe that i am the only one making little, daily decisions that have big effects on who i am going to become. if we're going to make this metaphor work, there has to be crossroads for every step. i don't think the road even exists. because if it did, how easy it would be to just follow the bread crumbs back to that road split and choose the other path. how simple it would be to right the wrongs. to 'turn back time.'

in the beginning there was a choice. and it was the first among countless choices...

posted by Paul Tolentino @ 12:22 PM 0 comments

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